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Friday, April 5, 2013

Excerpts from The Politics of Moving On

Guacamayas (1957) by Pedro Ruiz

“To say that ‘I have moved on’ is to make an assertion. It is a statement of conviction and not a statement of fact. It is a declaration of an objective and not one of victory. It is precisely this credo that implies the constant struggle between the Self and the Other or its abstractions, which is why the Self continuously adjusts. It evolves, and its evolution is contingent on this eternal struggle. It sustains itself through this disturbance, this nuisance that impels the mind, and therefore the Self is fundamentally forced to source portions of its identity from this internal war. On this point it must be stated that to disengage is to commit a form of suicide.

“…In reality, the point is not to ‘move on’ but rather to ‘move in.’ The goal is not to ‘move on’ by leaving something behind that is sure to follow us wherever we go. The goal is to ‘move in’ by reclaiming your life. This is the way to assert your Self. In the words of Achilles: take it, it is yours.”